To Cathy On Her Birthday

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.
Judy Garland

Thomas Aquinas

Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand.

Gautama Buddha

"Like a fine flower, beautiful to look at but without scent, fine words are
fruitless in a person who does not act in accordance with them."

George Carlin

If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something,

and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent."

Winston Churchill

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"I believe in justice and truth, without which there would be no basis for human hope."

Barry Bonds

But to be the best, you must face the best. And to overcome your fear, you must deal with the best.

"I love friends, I want more friends. I love smiles. That is a fact. How to develop smiles? There are a variety of smiles. Some smiles are sarcastic. Some smiles are artificial-diplomatic smiles. These smiles do not produce satisfaction, but rather fear or suspicion. But a genuine smile gives us hope, freshness. If we want a genuine smile, then first we must produce the basis for a smile to come."

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Aristotle

At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess."

Ronald Reagan

I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.

"It's also helpful to realize that this very body that we have, that is sitting right here right now... with its aches and pleasures... is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive." ~Pema Chödrön

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. Mark Twain

"Learning how to be kind to ourselves, learning how to respect ourselves, is important. The reason it's important is that, fundamentally, when we look into our own hearts and begin to discover what is confused and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet, it isn't just ourselves that we're discovering. We're discovering the universe."

~Pema Chödrön

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.
Desmond Tutu

"An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea." ~The Buddha

A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often - just to save it from drying out completely.
Pam Brown

"Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals." ~The Buddha

We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
H. L. Mencken

"It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways."
~The Buddha

When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home. Tecumseh